Update for Wednesday, October 19, 2016

Today in Afghanistan Some 5,000 people have fled from the Mosul area to al-Hol camp in Syria in recent days, where Save the Children says conditions are appalling and the facility is unprepared to receive more refugees. The camp is “littered with waste and faeces, with a looming risk of outbreaks of disease”. It said there are just 16 toilets shared by more than 9,000 people, many of whom only have access to dirty, untreated water.

Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi will face the daunting challenges of governing a post-ISIL Iraq and post-conflict security issues: first, the reintegration of territory and populations that were under ISIL control; second, agreeing to Iraq's internal borders with the Kurds; and third, presiding over a fragmented, sectarian state to deal with the aforementioned issues. This is one of the few occasions where I find myself arguing for American interference in domestic Iraqi affairs.